Today on The Country, Jamie Mackay spoke to Minister of Agriculture Damien O'Connor and Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley about yesterday's announcement that RSE workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will be allowed into New Zealand without having to go through managed isolation.
On with the show:
Damien O'Connor:
We ask the Minister of Agriculture about the rationale and timing of yesterday's announcement that, as from September, RSE workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will be allowed into New Zealand without having to go through managed isolation. Plus, what's happening to Boomer Bike Bridge?
Ray Grubb:
The Chairman of Fish and Game NZ comments on why he reckons Roger Douglas got it wrong in the 1980s and why his organisation wants to work with farmers in the 2020s to clean up our waterways.
Nadine Tunley:
The new chief executive of Horticulture NZ applauds the RSE worker announcement and previews the organisation's Annual Conference coming up on Thursday and Friday at Mystery Creek. Plus, we look at her background and how she got horticulture's biggest gig.
Nathan Penny:
We ask Westpac's rural Economist if the $8 dairy payout is under threat and whether sheep and beef farmers are in for a record-breaking boomer of a season? And we look at the other side of the ledger, where costs are spiralling upwards.
Dr Jacqueline Rowarth:
One of New Zealand's leading farming academics has a crack at TVNZ's "Milk and Money" on-demand series and says that all-grass is not the answer for the New Zealand dairy industry.
Listen below: